This book investigates how you visually experience art. It examines how your eyes see and how your brain looks at the various components of different types of art. It explains how you gather impressions and make associations, how you perceive meaning, and how art affects your thoughts, stimulates your emotions, and enhances your life experiences

One of the most fascinating archaeological discoveries of the early 20th century is a small Paleolithic stone sculpture known as the Venus of Willendorf. Who is she? we wonder. What does she represent? Is this a portrait of an actual Stone Age woman? Or might this be an image of a prehistoric Mother Goddess? These and other questions are examined in this essay

The book presents 853 Victorian paintings by 163 painters, including 16 women, spanning the reign of Queen Victoria (1837-1901). The paintings, selected for their intrinsic beauty as works of art, are grouped by artist.

Perception and Visual Culture. Presented in the session "Using, Reusing, and Abusing the Ideals and Forms of the Ancient Past" at the Renaissance Society of America (RSA) conference in Cambridge, England, April 6-10, 2005

Gregory XIII and the Academy of St. Luke in Rome.Presented in the session "Gregory XIII, I: Rome and the Vatican," at the Sixteenth Century Studies Conference (SCSC), Toronto, Canada, October, 2004

Best Sellers? Studying Prints in Sixteenth-Century Italy.Presented in the session "Continuity and Change: The State of Research on Sixteenth-Century Italian Art," at the conference of the College Art Association (CAA), Seattle, February, 2004

Looking at Pictures: Art History and the Perception of Visual Images.Presented in the session "Art, Science and Visual Studies" at the conference "Making Connections," Association of Art Historians (AAH), Oxford, England, March, 2001

Art History and Technology: A Brief History; New Directions.Presented in the session "Using Technology to Teach Art History" at the Annual Southeastern College Art Conference (SECAC), Louisville, Kentucky, October, 2000(See also the website)

Mary Magdalen in Renaissance Art.Presented by invitation at the Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies conference on "Mary Magdalen in History and Legend," University of California at Los Angeles, May, 1997

Cum Privilegio: Copyright in Renaissance.Presented in the session "History, Art, and Copyright" at the conference of the College Art Association (CAA), New York, February, 1997

Venice and Rome: The Print Connection in the Sixteenth Century.Presented in the session "Italian Art 1300-1700: Venice and Rome" at the Southeastern College Art Conference (SECAC), Washington, D.C., Fall, 1995. Abstract published in Southeastern College Art Conference Review XIII (1996): 83

The Shifting Identity of Mary Magdalen in the Renaissance. Presented in the session "The Renaissance Woman II" at the Sixteenth Century Studies Conference (SCSC), St. Louis, Missouri, Fall, 1993

Prints and Copyright in 16th Century Italy. Presented at the Alumni Symposium: Art History for the 1990s: Marking Change in the Museum, the Academy, and the Marketplace, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Spring, 1993

Raphael, Giulio Romano, and the Chapel of the Courtesan. Presented in the session "The Italian Renaissance Chapel: Patrons, Programs, and Problems" at the Southeastern College Art Conference (SECAC), Memphis, Tenn., Fall, 1991. Abstract published in Southeastern College Art Conference Review XII (1992): 118-119

Papal Plans for the Accademia di San Luca in Rome.Presented in the Robert H. Smith Seminar on the Accademia di San Luca at the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts (CASVA), National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., December 9-10, 2004

Teaching on the Web. Invited lecture in the session "Getting Started with Technology in the Classroom" (VFIC and DuPont Faculty Technology Initiative), Marymount University, Arlington, Virginia, June, 2000

Teaching Using the Web. Presentation in a Workshop for Faculty in the Humanities (VFIC and DuPont Faculty Technology Initiative), Randolph-Macon College, Ashland, Virginia, June 1999

Web / Images / Teaching / Research. Invited lecture and workshop at the First Annual Meeting of the Art History Webmasters Association, University of Québec at Montréal, Canada, March, 1998